Hat-trick hero Horacio Agulla hopes he has proved his worth for a more regular spot in the Bath Rugby starting XV.

The Argentina international winger has struggled to hit the heights of his debut season at The Rec 12 months ago but signalled a return to form against Brive last Sunday.

Anthony Watson and Semesa Rokoduguni have been Bath’s go-to men out wide in recent weeks but Agulla’s try treble against the French side will have given the club’s coaching staff plenty of food for thought.

“I think the competition is much harder this season,” said 29-year-old Agulla. “We’ve got players who are performing very well, so it’s pretty hard to get into the team.

“Roko is one of those guys that you don’t know what to expect from him. He’s so skilful and the strength he has makes him a great player to have on the team. If there’s space he can win a game in one action.

“It’s the same with someone like Anthony Watson. It’s unbelievable how well he’s been playing.

“You know when you have the chance, you just have to take it. I’m trying to do that and show that I can be in the first team. That makes us all push harder and that’s good for the team.”

Bath’s victory over Brive booked them a trip to Wasps in the Amlin Cup semi-finals and ended a run of three home defeats on the bounce in the process.

With the club also fighting for honours domestically, the end of the season is shaping up to be an exciting one.

Should the big games keep coming, a man of Agulla’s experience will be vital within what is a predominantly youthful camp.

Agulla has more than 50 Pumas caps to his name and played in two Premiership finals with Leicester Tigers before heading to The Rec.

He said: “The last few weeks we didn’t have the results that we wanted and we’ve been working very hard. It was nice to come to The Rec again and perform well. It makes you feel you are doing the right things in training.

“We need experience – that’s what we need now. We’ve got the players to beat any team but we know we have to play 100 per cent against every team if we want to win.

“We’ve had a few stones on the road and I think that happened because we weren’t there mentally but we’re fixing it and we’re learning week by week.”